


Reaching out

by SerialKillerQueen



Series: Reaching [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: (It's not slavery in name but that's what it is), (to a degree), Dark Fantasy, Dehumanization, Gen, Heavy on the hurt/comfort, Human Experimentation, Hurt/Comfort, Magic, Magic is a living creature in a way, Mercyfic, Minor Injuries, Non-Sexual Slavery, Other, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Queerplatonic Relationships, Slavery, This is just self indulgent hurt comfort, Trust, Undead, do not copy to another site, unbeta'd we die like mne, undead character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-15
Updated: 2021-01-15
Packaged: 2021-03-13 12:14:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28778121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SerialKillerQueen/pseuds/SerialKillerQueen
Summary: Asra finds a injured man outside of her home in the woods, he's not entirely human anymore, but that doesn't mean he doesn't deserve help.
Relationships: Original Character & Original Character, Original Female Character & Original Female Character, Original Female Character & Original Male Character
Series: Reaching [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2122077
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	Reaching out

**Author's Note:**

> Asra's faceclaim is Daisy Ridley.  
> Kiania's faceclaim is Barbie Ferreira.  
> An explanation for certain terms will be at the bottom.

As soon as she’d stepped out of their little cottage Asra knew something was deeply wrong.

That wasn’t unusual, living out in the woods, luckily she and Kiania were more than capable of defending themselves. 

But something about this was making her magic coil up in her chest, uncomfortably tight, on edge.

She already had faint sparks shifting across her palm when she noticed the figure huddled at the base of a tree, breath wheezing faintly.

One of the first things she registered was how large the man was, tall, well muscled.

The second was that he was covered in wounds, very precise cuts, which were...blackened, the blood was black, and his skin was unnaturally pale.

She let the sparks die off.

He was a Recreated, she was sure of it already, but as soon as she stepped closer and his head snapped up there was no doubt possible.

One of his eyes was a bright purple, the other iris was silver, but the white of the eye was solid black.

Definitely a Recreated, and one who’d clearly been living a nightmare.

(That wasn’t unusual, they weren’t viewed as people once they were brought back to life, only unclaimed bodies were legally able to be taken after all, and therefore anything could be done to them without any authority interfering. Asra had seen some in her life, often with their bodies so changed by magic you could barely tell they had ever been human. Others had less extreme modifications but were still slaves, if not in name (they’d _outlawed_ slavery after all) then obviously in how they were living).

She cautiously knelt in front of him, hands relaxed, hoping he hadn’t caught onto her being a magic user, it’d probably frighten him more -

Was that a _muzzle_ on his mouth?

She couldn’t tell if he had sharp teeth, or if whoever had claimed him had not wanted to hear him scream.

“It’s okay, I’m not going to hurt you, me and my Gemin can help with your injuries, if that’s okay.”

She was already mentally tugging on their bond, letting Kiania know to come after her.

She was much better at offensive magic than healing magic, it simply wasn’t natural to her, but her Gemin excelled at it, and it’d take that if they were going to try and heal injuries on a Recreated. Who knew what kind of magic was lingering in his body.

At current he was just staring, still breathing too heavily, flinching faintly every few moments, whether from pain or fear she didn’t know.

Going to have to take it slow then.

She carefully laid her hand on the ground in front of him, not actually trying to reach, just leaving it there.

“I’m sorry you’re in pain. I know it must be bad. Can I see if I can get that...that thing, off your face? I’d like to know your name.”

_And how you possibly got away from your claimer._

At least his expression cleared somewhat, he looked aware. She’d been worried he was gone entirely, not that she could have blamed him. She would’ve wanted to go away inside her head, if she was in the situation he’d been in.

She heard a faint shuffling that announced Kiania’s presence, and he tensed all over again and she probably should have been a bit more clear about someone else showing up.

“This is my Gemin, she’ll help.”

His eyes shifted back to her, which was frankly an astounding amount of trust in and of itself, and then he nodded, just slightly.

She wasn’t sure if it was to Kia’s help or her previous offer, but decided to go with the latter, trusting the other woman to be still and steady until she told her to move forward, and very slowly reaching her hands up and around his head.

He stiffened and twitched again, but other than that was still.

(And it might be unwise to take it off, but she wasn’t leaving it on, she’d deal with the consequences as they came).

She easily found the release for the muzzle, pressing down, it clicked open and she pulled it off, wondering why he hadn’t done it himself.

Then she caught sight of his burned fingertips. Of course. The claimer would’ve spelled it, to make sure he couldn’t take it off. He could’ve spent the rest of his life with it on if no one had removed it.

She carefully controlled her expression before he saw how angry she was getting, about this entire rotten situation.

No one deserved this. Whether they were human anymore or not.

She set the muzzle aside, mentally noting to burn it later, and possibly take the ashes and throw them off a cliff, when she felt a faint touch on her arm.

It was a very hesitant touch, his hand barely resting there, but it _was_ there. Reaching for someone despite everything he’d undoubtedly gone through.

An astounding amount of trust indeed.

And if there’d been any doubt in her mind that they were going to take care of him, let him stay, help him heal if he’d let them, it went away.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoy! I've gotten very self indulgent with my fics lately.
> 
> Explanation for certain words:  
> Gemin - Based on the word 'Geminus' which means twin. It is the signifier of what is essentially a queer platonic partnership, but in this world it's called that, as well as it involves two magic users linking their magic together, and therefore themselves. (This was inspired by the concept of 'Parabatai' in Shadowhunters).  
> Recreated - An undead person, brought back by a magic user, usually for nefarious purposes. Only bodies of people that have no family or are not wanted by their family are able to be a recreated.  
> Claimer - The name for the magic user who makes a Recreated.
> 
> (The concept of magic having its own life was inspired by a Shadowhunters fanfic).


End file.
